Hazare and the Lokpal drafting

Fight to curb corruption through vigilance

Social reformer Anna Hazare attended the first meeting of the joint committee of ministers and civil society leaders set up to draft the anti-graft Lokpal Bill. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of parliament.

For us in India, corruption has been an age-old phenomenon. Chanakya is supposed to have said in the Arthashastra that there are 40 different methods by which public officials can indulge in corruption. "The Mahamatras are like fish. Does one know, when the fish is drinking water?" he is supposed to have said.

GLOBAL PHENOMENON: Corruption is anti-poor

N. Vittal

 As we look ahead to the next 10 to 15 years, what is it that we can hope for on the corruption front? It is very easy to be pessimistic. The pessimist can always argue that corruption has always been with us like the poor and it is a global phenomenon. Nevertheless, the fact is that while corruption is a global phenomenon, we have seen countries which were corrupt, reforming themselves and getting the benefits of corruption-free, good governance in our own lifetime. Singapore is a classic example.

India can come out of the perennial trap of corruption and move ahead. There are silver linings in the dark clouds of

corruption haunting us today. The Supreme Court judgment

which forced candidates in elections to declare their criminal records, educational qualification and wealth while filing their nomination. The degree of transparency sought to be brought about by the Supreme Court is the first step in our long journey to fight political corruption.

silver linings in the dark clouds

Use of information technology in the railway reservation

system gave enormous relief and benefited the travelling public every day. The use of electronic voting machines in the General Election has reduced significantly the scope for corruption and malpractices in the election process. The

passing of the Right to Information Act is a healthy

development. These developments show that we can move systematically towards a cleaner environment in public life.

silver linings in the dark clouds

The degree of corruption in any organization or society depends

on three factors. The first is the individual sense of values. The second is the value cherished by society and the third, of course,

is the system of governance.

Thanks to modernization and the tremendous impact of satellite television and the media and the policy of liberalization, we are seeing the vigorous growth of the consumer culture.

Lifestyle has become very important. What we can do is to at least see that certain basic values like integrity, honesty and compassion are inculcated.

Societal values

If we want India to become less corrupt, we must ensure that moral values are inducted. For a set of social values, opinion makers in society have to become role models. Every professional association can uphold ethics and codes of conduct, and thereby build role models and benchmarks for guiding society. We must redesign our system of governance to check corruption.

Certificate of good conduct & character

Om Shanti! Shanti! Shanti

Sanskrit

(Let us come together. Let us enjoy together. Let our strengths come together. Let us move from darkness to light. Let us avoid the poison of misunderstanding and hatred. That way lies progress.)

Sahana vavatu Sahanau Bhunaktu, Saha Viryam kara va vahai, Tejas vina maditha vastu, Ma vidh

visha vahai

Om Shanti! Shanti! Shanti

Adopting this strategy, we can definitely see India becoming a less corrupt, progressive and developed country in the next 10 to 15 years.
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We shall overcome wrong trends.

Quotes from Yoga Vasishta, Hind Swaraj and Anna Hazare

Selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership by example

should form the standards for holding public office.

We must redesign our

system of governance to check corruption. Corruption today is a game in which five major players are involved. They are the

the corrupt politicians,

the corrupt

bureaucrats,

the corrupt businessmen,

the corrupt NGOs and criminals.

corrupt:

five major players

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There is need to re-examine our culture, which has normalised corruption in its many different forms. We in India need to acknowledge the need for introspection on our acceptance of the abuse of power.
The Seven Nolan Principles of Public Life selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership by example should form the standards for holding public office. There should be regular and independent reviews of individual and organisational functioning. The challenge is to inspire and change individuals and to transcend and transform societal norms. (K.S. Jacob, Professor of Psychiatry at the Christian Medical College, Vellore.)
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Self-control, O Rama, is the best remedy for all physical and mental ills. When there is self-control, even the food you eat tastes better, else it tastes bitter. He who wears the armour of self-control is not harmed by sorrow.
He who even while hearing, touching, seeing, smelling and tasting what is regarded as pleasant and unpleasant, is neither elated nor depressed he is self-controlled. He who looks upon all beings with equal vision, having brought under control the sensations of pleasure and pain, is self-controlled. He who though living amongst all is unaffected by them, neither feels elated nor hates, even as one is during sleep he is self-controlled.
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Means of liberation

Inquiry (the second gate-keeper to liberation, Vichara) should be undertaken by an intelligence that has been purified by a close study of the scripture, and this inquiry should be unbroken. By such inquiry the intelligence becomes keen and is able to realize the supreme; hence inquiry alone is the best remedy for the long-lasting illness known as the life cycle world (samsara.)

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Satsanga (company of wise, holy and enlightened persons) is yet another gatekeeper to liberation. Satsanga enlarges ones intelligence, destroys ones ignorance and ones psychological distress. Whatever be the cost, however difficult it may be, whatever obstacles may stand in its way, satsanga should never be neglected. For, satsanga alone is ones light on the path of life. Satsanga is indeed superior to all other forms of religious practices like charity, austerity, pilgrimages and the performance of religious rites.
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TYPOLOGY OF CORRUPTION, Analyse, Act and realize swaraj Gandhi & hind swaraj Anna Hazare & rural self-help

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Scales of corruption can be Grand, Middling or Petty and payment of bribes can be due to collusion between the bribe taker and the bribe giver, due to coercion or even anticipatory. Existence of corruption implies that there are corrupt people, there are also corrupt practices, and there is a corrupt system. Therefore, all the three have to be fought simultaneously to eliminate the vice of corruption.

Corruption is defined as the use of public office for private gains

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The concept of Citizen Charters has been introduced to

improve the quality of public services. It ensures accountability, transparency and quality of services provided by various government organistions. It enables citizens to avail of services with minimum hassle, in reasonable time, and at a minimum cost. Effective implementation of Citizens Charters will go a long way in controlling corruption. The Government of India has

launched an ambitious programme for formulation and

implementation of Citizens Charters in all government departments.
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"We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act. " -- Swami Vivekananda
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Over every huge tree that we see over ground, there always is
a seed that had submerged itself into the darkness of the soil.

Ban on consumption and sale of alcohol lays the foundation of rural development.

It is impossible to change the village without transforming the individual. Similarly it is impossible to transform the country without changing its villages.

If villages are to develop, politics have to be kept out. Education without spirituality cannot help development.

In the process of rural development, social and economic

development should go hand in hand

Anna Hazare says

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The work of social transformation is neither easy nor impossible. The ultimate goal of all politics and social work should be the upliftment of society and of the nation. Educational institutions are not enough to make good citizens, every home should become an educational center. Indulgence causes disease whereas sacrifice leads to accomplishment.

Anna Hazare says

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 What we mean and want through Poorna Swaraj is an awakening among the masses, a knowledge among them of their true interest and ability to serve that interest against the whole world, .. harmony, freedom from aggression from within or without, and a progressive improvement in the economic condition of the masses (Young India, 18-6-1931, p. 147)
Selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership by example
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The public can call its servants to account M K Gandhi

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Corruption will be out one day, however much one may try to conceal it. The public can, as its right and duty, in very case of justifiable suspicion, call its servants to strict account, dismiss them, sue them in a

law court or appoint an arbitrator or inspector to scrutinize their conduct, as it likes. (civil society asks 4 Ombudsman)

Mahatma Gandhi: (60 years ago)

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 The pilgrimage to Swaraj is a painful climb. It requires attention to details. It means vast organizing ability, it means penetration into the villages solely for the service of the villagers. In other words, it means national education, i.e., education of the masses. It means an awakening of national consciousness among the masses. It will not spring like the magicians mango. It will grow almost unperceived like the banyan tree. A bloody revolution will never perform the trick. Haste here is most certainly waste.

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Hind Swaraj: Indian Home Rule M. K. Gandhi (1909)

But whether India may be ripe for it or not, it is best for Indians to study the seminal book which contains the ultimate logical conclusion of the acceptance of the twin principles of Truth and Non-violence, and then decide whether these principles should be accepted.

Perhaps there are no other people in the world who show so much in their characters the advantageous effects of their own civilisation. They are shrewd in business, acute in reasoning, thrifty, religious, sober, charitable, obedient to parents, referential to old age, amiable, law abiding, compassionate towards the helpless, and patient under suffering. That observation was made in 1883 __Why are we corrupt today?

Social reform, self-purification and politics were inseparable in Gandhis view; the discourse of self-purification and social reform had to become a public, mass debate, it had to be articulated within the political realm. An attempt to see beauty in voluntary simplicity, voluntary poverty and slowness; it is the enunciation, in other words of a different aesthetic that rejects the narrative of progress and modernity.
Hind Swaraj, Gandhi seems to be suggesting, should be read as a poem and Gandhi as a poet, in the great tradition of classical dramas.

Hind Swaraj and Mohandas Gandhi

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The Gandhian intervention was not merely an

intervention in the specifics of the Indian political conjuncture at different critical moments; it was an intervention through which a certain elemental experience of epic proportions spoke out. It may have found its voices through the persons of a Thoreau, Ruskin or a Tolstoy, but it was the Gandhian / Hazare intervention that provided them the modality of manifestation and expression.
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I do not think any one can beat me in my passion for guarding and expending public money like a miser. The reason is: Public money belongs to the poor public of India than whom there is none poorer on earth. - Young India: April 16, 1931 A public fund becomes public property and therefore every member of the public is entitled to know in detail the administration of such funds. - Young India: Feb. 24,1927

voluntary simplicity, voluntary poverty

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This repeated desire to reconnect with nature of which Human beings are but one part underlines what is probably the most fundamental part of Gandhis critique of modernity. Through this he seems to be repeatedly telling us that we have strayed too far from home. In staging this philosophical encounter between modernity (or modern or industrial civilisation, as he calls it) and its other/s, Gandhi makes it very clear that it is not the colonised / globalised who suffers from some lack but rather, the colonising /globalising and imperialist power that is afflicted. With the disease that is modern civilisation, [Globalisation?] he also makes it clear that this modern civilisation has not merely colonised others outside its domain, it has also destroyed forms of life within its domain.
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If we wish to achieve Swaraj through truth and nonviolence, gradual but steady building-up from the bottom upwards by constructive effort is the only way. This rules out the deliberate creation of an anarchical state for the overthrow of the established order in the hope of throwing up from within a dictator who would rule with a rod of iron and produce order out disorder.

Through Truth And Nonviolence

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My Swaraj is to keep intact the genius of our civilization. I want to write many new thing but they must be all written on the Indian slate. I would gladly borrow from the West when I can return the amount with decent interest. If Swaraj was not meant to civilize us, and to purify and stabilize our civilization, it would be worth nothing. The very essence of our civilization is that we give a paramount place to morality in all our affairs, public or private.

Genius Of Our Civilization

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By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man- body, mind and spirit. Literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning. It is only one of the means whereby man and woman can be educated. Literacy in itself is no education. I would therefore begin the child's education by teaching it a useful handicraft and enabling it to produce from the moment it begins its training..... My NAI TALIM is not dependent on money. The running expenses should come from the educational process itself. Whatever the criticisms may be, I know that the only education is that which is 'self-supporting'.

Gandhi: about education

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THE ANCIENT aphorism, 'Education is that which liberates' is as true today as it was before. Education here does not mean mere spiritual knowledge, nor does liberation signify only spiritual liberation after death. Knowledge includes all training that is useful for the service of mankind and liberation means freedom from all manner of servitude even in the present life. Servitude is of two kinds: slavery to domination from outside and to one's own artificial needs. The knowledge acquired in the pursuit of this ideal alone constitutes true study.
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We get what Government we deserve. When we improve, the Government is also bound to improve. Only when we improve can we attain swaraj. - Young India: Nov. 10, 1920. The swaraj that I dream of will be a possibility when the nation is free to make its choice of both good and evil and not be good at the dictation of an irresponsible, insolent and godless bureaucracy. - Young India: Dec. 08, 1920.

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Estrangement, disenchantment and a certain loss of connection with humanitys fundamental relationship to nature seem to be constant concerns in Gandhis

dramatisation of the modern predicament. Ahimsa or nonviolence is therefore often explicated by him, as a way of reestablishing that connection.

It seems that his hope was that a big mass nationalist movement of peasants and artisans would make it possible to reverse the processes of mechanisation and factory production, as more and more people could be inspired to produce for their own consumption.
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 An analysis was conducted by Transparency India in 2007 to identify possible gaps between the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the legal and institutional framework in place in the country. The report confirmed the good quality of the legal framework against corruption in India, with existing legislation in line with most of the requirements of the UNCAC. The largest and almost only - substantial gap was identified by the report in the area of whistleblower protection. Law enforcement, however, remains weak, suggesting a lack of political will to effectively address corruption challenges in the country.
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Today policy failure is writ large and

governance is failing all around. This is due to

the growth in size of the black economy from

about 4 % of GDP in 1955-56 to the present

50 %.
The implication is that illegality in the country

has grown and touches almost every activity.

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Is honesty divisible among financial social and political matters? Can one be financially be honest but dishonest in other spheres? Is it honesty when when scams are allowed to take place but one personally does not take any money? Honesty is not just individual but systemic and if the number of scams grow in size and numbers, can the head of the government escape responsibility given the huge social and political consequences?
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..a break READ some fiction Claims and allegations Allegations ? Money laundering Convictions and court-cases Enquiry, letter rogatory ? found empty !
fictional account
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Money laundering story from an unknown country

of a distant planet. This fictional account

illustrates possibilities of tax havens and

generation of black money that harms the countrys economy. Tackling this needs services of bunch of Sherlock Holmeses.

TO ELIMINATE BLACK ECONOMY NOW

fictional account

Story from a country of a distant planet

fictional account
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fictional account

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fictional account

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fictional account

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fictional account

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National Magazine From the publishers of fiction ECONOMIC OFFENCES

Dealing with dirty money The alarming growth in the volume of moneylaundering and its links with other crimes, including the illicit trade in narcotics, have made it a major planet level problem. [Story Ends]
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A group of 14 citizens addressed an Open letter' to political leaders

expressing alarm at the governance deficit; in government, business and institutions. Among several urgent steps needed, said the group', the most critical was to make the investigation agencies and lawenforcing bodies independent of the Executive'. The group included grey eminences such as Mr Azim Premji, Mr Bimal Jalan, Mr Deepak Parekh, Mr N. Vaghul, Justices Mr Virava and Mr Sri Krishna, Mr Malegam and Professor A.Vaidyanathan.

Agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigations, Enforcement Directorate and the Indian Revenue Service are all under the control of government departments.

Intelligentsia's Initiative
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Again Gandhi in Hind Swaraj

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What do you think could have been the intention of those farseeing ancestors of ours who established Setubandha (Rameshwar) in the South, Jagannath in the East and Hardwar in the North as places of pilgrimage? They knew that worship of God could have been performed just as well at home. They taught us that those whose hearts were aglow with righteousness had the Ganges in their own homes

Gandhi on national spirit, oneness

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But they saw that India was one undivided land so made by nature. They, therefore, argued that it must be one nation. Arguing thus, they established holy places in various parts of India, and fired the people with an idea of nationality in manner unknown in other parts of the world.
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It was a charge against India that her people are so uncivilized, ignorant and stolid, that it was not possible to induce them to adopt any changes. It is a charge really against our merit. What we have tested and found true on the anvil of experience, we dare not change. Many thrust their advice upon India, and she remains steady. This is her beauty: it is the sheetanchor of our hope. Civilization is that mode of conduct which points out to man the path of duty. Performance of duty and observance of morality are convertible terms. To observe morality is to attain mastery over our mind and our passions. So doing, we know ourselves. The Gujarati equivalent for civilization means good conduct.
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If this definition be correct, then India, as so many writers have shown, has nothing to learn from anybody else, and this is as it should be. We notice that the mind is a restless bird; the more it gets the more it wants, and still remains unsatisfied. The more we indulge our passions the more unbridled they become. Our ancestors, therefore set a limit to our indulgences. They saw that happiness was largely a mental condition. A man is not necessarily happy because he is rich, or unhappy because he is poor. The rich are often seen to be unhappy, the poor to be happy. Millions will always remain poor. Observing all this, our ancestors dissuaded us from luxuries and pleasures.

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The Indian civilization, as described by me, has been so described by its votaries. In no part of the world, and under no civilization, have all men attained perfection. The tendency of the Indian civilization is to elevate the moral being, that of the Western civilization is to propagate material prosperity. The latter is godless, the former is based on a belief in God. So understanding and so believing, it behoves every lover of India to cling to the old Indian civilization even as a child clings to the mothers breast. __Mohandas Gandhi, in Hind Swaraj

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Because the sons of India were found wanting, its civilization has been placed in jeopardy. But its strength is to be seen in its ability to survive the shock. Moreover, the whole of India is not touched. Those alone who have been affected by Western civilization have become enslaved. We measure the universe by our own miserable foot-rule. When we are slaves, we think that the whole universe is enslaved. Because we are in an abject condition, we think that the whole of India is in that condition. As a matter of fact, it is not so, yet it is as well to impute our slavery to the whole of India. But if we bear in mind the above fact, we can see that if we become free, India is free.

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It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves. It is, therefore, in the palm of our hands. Do not consider this Swaraj to be like a dream. There is no idea of sitting still. The Swaraj that I wish to picture is such that, after we have once realized it, we shall endeavour to the end of our life-time to persuade others to do likewise. But such Swaraj has to be experienced, by each one for himself. One drowning man will never save another. Slaves ourselves, it would be a mere pretension to think of freeing others.
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Passive resistance is an all-sided sword, it can be used anyhow; it blesses him who uses it and him against whom it is used. Without drawing a drop of blood it produces far-reaching results. It never rusts and cannot be stolen. Competition between passive resisters does not exhaust. The sword of passive resistance does not require a scabbard.
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1. Real home-rule is self-rule or self-control.

2. The way to it is passive resistance: that is soul-force or love-force. 3. In order to exert this force, Swadeshi in every sense is necessary. 4. What we want to do should be done, not because we object to the English / Govt. or because we

want to retaliate but because it is our duty to do so.

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In the midst of alleged corruptions, an agitation for Lokpal bill in India

Social Activism and rural leadership of Anna Hazare

Corruption is a two-way street. For every bribe taker, there is a bribe giver. While the debate on corruption in our country has focused on the demand side of corruption, i.e., on public servants and politicians who demand bribes, there has been a thundering silence on the supply side of corruption, i.e., around the business community which bribes the public servants and politicians. It is therefore interesting to note the business communitys focus on the issue of ethics in business. Recently the CII organised a session on ethics and corporate integrity.
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Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare (June 15, 1938), is an Indian social activist. who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India, in 1992. He is also one of the leading figures who championed the cause of Right to Information Act in India. He is known for his crusade towards fighting corruption in public offices

Anna Hazare

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People understand their environment much better than anybody else from outside. Hence, people's participation is an essential element and prerequisite for, any development initiative to be successful. Hence, it needs to be designed into development programs from the beginning. The initiatives to mobilize people should be people/community and place specific. Any kind of generalization may be harmful.

The weak, poor and women need special consideration and concessions for their fuller participation.

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AGITATION FOR LOKPAL : April-2011

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The government's decision ended the 97-hour fast here by veteran reformer Anna Hazare -- an unparalleled people's movement against corruption in recent years. "India is recognizing the issue in time for it to be dealt with. This is in a way better than what the situation is in many developed and emerging economies, which seem to be in denial," _ Muthuraman, presidentdesignate of the Confederation of Indian Industry . added. The central government Saturday issued a gazette notification constituting a joint committee headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to draft an antigraft Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill.

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Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde, Prashant

Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, this Bill has been

refined on the basis of feedback received from

public on website and after series of public

consultations. It has also been vetted by and is

supported by Shanti Bhushan, J M Lyngdoh,

Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare.
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The central government issued a gazette notification constituting a joint committee headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to draft an anti-graft Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill. Excerpts from the notification: "Government of India here by constitutes a joint drafting committee to prepare a draft of the Lokpal Bill. The joint drafting committee will consist of five nominee ministers of the Government of India and five nominees of Anna Hazare, including himself.
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The Jan Lokpal crafted initially by Kejriwal, Hegde, Bhushan and refined by countless citizens is an effective deterrent and a necessary step to eliminate corruption. The bill should be further refined and passed within the next 30-60 days even if it means convening an extraordinary session of parliament What does we are tackling corruption on a war footing mean .

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"I believe the meeting will be of an introductory nature," the senior lawyer
said. Besides Hazare and Bhushan, the civil society has three more representatives on the panel - former law minister Shanti Bhushan, who is

also the co-chairman of the committee, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and
former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde. The 10-member committee is headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The other ministerial members on the panel are Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed. The government agreed to include the civil society leaders in the committee after Hazare went on indefinite fast in Delhi, which was called off after 97 hours April 9.
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